Running Wild
by OracleofTweeter
Summary: Lara Marie is an outcast. She scavenges the streets for food, fighting to just protect her sleeping spot. But all that will change when she receives something so shocking, it will change the way of Erdas forever.
1. Chapter 1

A cackle echoed through the alley she was in. No matter what, she couldn't, and wouldn't, be able to escape. Lara was huddled in a corner of a dank and moldy box, discarded food was spread down the sides. A wolf whipped around the corner, and started approaching her. It's charcoal grey fur stood up on end, as it snarled rather viciously. A man followed not far after his wolf, but he was no ordinary man, this was one of the elite guards, protectors of King Ranthard.

King Ranthard was a vile king. He tortured people for the fun of it, and every two years he sends two outcasts to a maze, where they are never seen again. Sometimes he would send up to five people.

Lara had a sudden glimpse of something in the shadows. By now, the guard had taken out his spear, and held it over her "Prepare to die," the guard snickered.

A blur of blue knocked over the guard just before he was about to raise his spear. The figure slit the guards throat then stood up. Lara looked up at the figure with terror filled eyes

"Please don't kill me." she mumbled in fear. The man laughed "Now why would I do that darling?" His voice sounded raspy, like an old man's. He put out his hand for her to grab, and she gladly took it.

Then, he pulled down his hood "Name's Sorren, but you can call me Sor." Lara smiled at Sor "Thank you for saving me."

Sorren returned the smile "No problem."

Lara looked around "So… How are we going to get out of this?"

Sorren smirked before launching into the air. Lara frowned 'He took off without me.' she thought to herself.

Before Sorren could return, two more guards turned down the alleyway. Lara stood there frozen "That little…" she trailed off as one of the guards chucked his spear at her. She dove onto the ground, skinning her knee in the process. One of the guards placed his boot on her head. He leaned down, and hissed in her ear "You never should have stole."

Lara resisted the urge to gag at his rotten breath "Stole? I never stole anything?" She coughed weakly, as the guard dug the heel into her head "Don't play dumb girl. I can easily kill you right now."

Lara glanced up at him "But you wouldn't."

"What do you mean I wouldn't?"

"You want pain and torture, not the satisfaction of killing others."

"Why do you assume that?"

"Because I saw your crocodile, your spirit animal."


	2. Chapter 2

The guard stared at her in shock "How, but crocodile? What?" In the moment of confusion that followed she tripped the guard, and put her foot on his face "Let your animal out." She growled.

The other guards watched her warily, ready to attack, but not wanting to. He brought out his crocodile, the animal bleeding from a wound in it's leg.

"It won't heal." He cried, pointing to the almost decapitated leg. Lara bent down and slowly crawled to the crocodile. It watched her cautiously: it's tail was whipping back and forth in a dangerous manner. She whispered "I am going to fix it, please don't hurt me."

The crocodile loosened up a bit, allowing her to get a better view of the leg. Most of the muscle had been torn off, and bone could be seen through bits and pieces of ragged strips. The early onset of gangrene was visible on the lower extremities of the wound. Lara stared worryingly, as she began to get to work.

First, she took out a bunch of cobwebs, and a type of seed that helped with pain. She nudged the seed towards the crocodile, and smiled as it ate them. Lara then asked for a thick stick about the size of the crocodile's leg.

One of the guards rushed off to fetch it. She waited for the guard to come back. After a few minutes, the guard came running back, a huge gash ran down his side "Shadow." He gasped before falling on to the cobble road. They all stared at him in confusion, because a shadow couldn't do damage.

"Probably crazy." One muttered under his breath.

Lara barked "Bring him here." Two guards brought the injured man to her. She stuck cobwebs on to his wounds, and began to administer an antidote she had received from a shopkeeper not too long ago. Lara took the stick from the man's hand, and straightened the crocodile's leg. It roared in pain, but it wasn't very loud because one of the guards held it's mouth shut.

She wrapped it in cobwebs to keep it on there "Any of you got alcohol?" One of the men who had carried the guard held out a flask. Lara whispered "This'll hurt.' She poured the alcohol on to it's leg, and winced as it thrashed around in obviously agonizing pain.

"Let him go." She ordered before stepping back. The guards holding him jumped away, as it began doing the death roll. The guard who's animal was healed stared at her "Thank you… No one has ever shown that much compassion towards me, let alone my spirit animal."

Lara smiled "It was nothing, also I believe I know who your robber is."

The guard looked up at her expectantly. SHe continued "He wore a blue cloak, and had a raspy voice. He looked to be in his mid life, and had grayish brown hair."

He nodded "Sorren Galloway, most wanted criminal on the continent. Say, how do you know what he looks like?"

Lara smirked "He spoke to me."


	3. Chapter 3

All the guards had disappeared, still shocked at Lara's skill in healing. The man's spirit animal, and the other man both gave me a feast for saving them. Twelve apples, five loaves of bread, and enough fish to last her for a month. Lara took a bite into one of the apples, and sighed. The sweet tang of it brought back many bittersweet memories of her and her mom picking apples in an orchard. Then a shocking realization dawned on her "I'm of age! I can see if I have a spirit animal!" Lara dashed out of her small makeshift home, and towards the gathering place. Although it wasn't exactly morning yet, people were already setting up for the ceremony that was going to happen around noon. Lara sat down to watch everyone bustle around. Soon, her eyes were closed, and she was fast asleep.

Sorren had been watching her ever since, and when she had dozed off, he took that chance to drop a note in a bottle by her side.

(SOrry for the extreme shortness, I will upload another chapter today)


	4. Chapter 4

Lara woke up with a start. The blare of trumpets signified that it was going to start very shortly. She attempted to smooth down her knotted brown hair, and brushed off as much dirt as she could. After that Lara ran to a stream, and washed the rest of the dirt off of her grimy face.A woman tapped her on the shoulder "Excuse me, but could you please move a little downstream?"

She looked up "Why should I?" The lady looked around anxiously before handing her a small bottle with a note in it "You left this at your spot, and I wanted to float it downstream to you, so it would seem more special."

Lara smiled at her before she took the bottle "Thank you," she murmured before taking the bottle. She smashed the bottle into her knee, and read the note. 'a lost warrior found, a fallen soul saved, a shadow reborn, a light reignited'

She stared at the note "What is this…" She looked up to find the lady, but she was gone. Lara walked back to her spot, still studying the message. Without realizing it, she bumped into a guard. When she looked up, a familiar face greeted her.

"Hey! You were the girl who saved my croc! What was your name again?" Lara smiled meekly "Lara, sir."

"Oh no need to call me sir, call me Davey."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

Lara waved goodbye, as she stepped in line to gave a long speech about it, which got rather boring after the first minute or so. Once he was done, he took the cup of Nectar, and walked towards the first child, a blond haired male. She had seen him around before, always very sophisticated even though his family wasn't royalty.

He took a sip of it with a smile "Just like my ma's blueberry pie." A loud squawk erupted from the chicken pen, as a boa slithered out, "Cool!" He yelled as it wrapped around it's feet.

The man smiled before moving onto the next child, a small girl with light blonde hair. She gently took a sip, and sighed. After a minute or two of waiting. no animal came. The girl mumbled something under her breath crossly.

Now it was the Prince's turn. He was rather snotty, and rude when it came to people below him. Before the man could warn him, Prince Landon drank it. Landon smirked "Well…?"

His smirked dissipated when he realized he wouldn't get a spirit animal. The crowd gasped because everyone else in his family had received an animal except for him.

Up next was Lara. She took the cup gently, and drank what was left. She didn't think she was going to receive an animal, so when one didn't come she sighed. The man patted her on the back "Don't worry child, it happens to a lot of people."

Lara looked up with a faint smile. He turned back around and boomed "The ceremony is complete! I would like to tha-" He was cut off short, as a loud roar echoed throughout the square. People screamed, and ran away, as a leopard, a tiger, and a lion burst into the clearing. Lara stood there, too scared to move. The lion whipped towards her, and launched itself at her.

(I haven't read the books in awhile, so sorry if I got that stuff wrong.)


	5. Chapter 5

Lara shrieked, and curled into a ball when it jumped. The tiger landed on her, and nudged her hands away from her face. Lara stared at it "Please don't eat me." She whimpered. The leopard walked up "Now why would we do that?"

"Because your… talking?" Lara stammered. The leopard purred "My name is Uraza, and these are my companions. Aruba, the lion dipped his head. And… Galdax!" Uraza roared into the forest. A lithe panther jumped down from the "Yes…?" it meowed in an almost pissed off tone. Uraza rolled her eyes "This is Galdax."

Lara didn't know what to stay "You… Talk…"

Galdax nodded "Indeed we do, recommend you get use to it, cause there'll be a lot more of that."

Aruba picked Lara up by her collar of her shirt, and brought her next to Uraza "He doesn't talk much, don't expect a lot."

Lara nodded mutely "What about guards?"

Aruba picked her up again, and took off into the forest. Luckily, Lara was small enough to avoid being hit by everything on the ground. The other three cats took off after Aruba. Aruba tossed Lara into the air, which caused her to shriek. Galdax ricocheted off of a trunk, and caught her.

Uraza laughed "Get used to it darling."

Lara glared at her, but shut up for the rest of the journey.

Once they had gotten to the destination, which was a rather cold jungle, Galdax climbed up a tree, and grabbed something before leaping back down. The thing she had grabbed was a tiger pelt. Aruba looked at the ground in remorse, as Uraza spoke "This was Fildan, another one of the Forgotten Warriors. He disappeared, and all that was left was his pelt. We believe he was killed then skinned, but there is no proof.

Lara had a sudden flashback.

"Tiger!" One of the soldiers had yelled when the injured man came back into camp.

She hadn't thought much of it, until now. "Uraza, I think I know where Fildan is." Uraza looked up at her to continue. She glanced around nervously before continuing "In the forest by the city, I remember when I was treating the crocodile that someone came back with injuries from a tiger."

Aruba purred, his voice was deep, and very rich "Very much Fildan." Uraza stared at him "You… spoke?"

Aruba nodded, silent once again. Galdax whipped past them both, and went up the tree with a huff of annoyance. Lara watched her leave, momentarily distracted by the cat's sudden outrage.

Uraza watched her leave "Don't worry, it'll pass."

Lara raised an eyebrow "What'll pass?" She asked.

"Her attitude." Uraza replied.

She nodded mutely. Aruba and Uraza took off into the jungle, leaving her alone.

A loud snap caused Lara to twist her head towards the direction it came from. A voice could be heard "Stupid brush, stupid, stupid." The voice sounded strangely familiar, but before she could figure out who it was, the figure stepped right in front of her.


End file.
